Reference is first made to FIG. 1, which shows a block diagram of a system 10 for data extraction and classification. The system 10 is connected to a public network 14 containing a variety of interconnected sources. In many embodiments, the public network 14 comprises the Internet and the sources comprise websites within the world wide web. The websites may include a plurality of interlinked webpages. Each website is identifiable by an IP address and its associated domain name, such as, for example, <<http://www.uspto.gov>>, which is the website for the United States Patent & Trade-mark Office.
The news feeds available through the world wide web are typically geographically specific and rarely provide a consolidated industry wide view. Globally focused news feeds typically ignore business news of interest unless it has a significant industry-wide impact. Accordingly, articles specific to two different parts of the world, but related to the same industry are rarely available from the same source.
One option is to subscribe to a large number of news services; however, few organizations are capable of processing and filtering the volume of incoming information that would result. It would be advantageous to have access to comprehensive, personalized business intelligence to enable more effective business planning and execution. Such a solution may also be desirable outside of the context of business intelligence, i.e. in any context wherein it would be advantageous to receive information from global online sources synthesized and categorized in accordance with personalized needs.